Status of Environment and Climate in the Western Balkans

This report provides an up-to-date overview of environment and climate in the Western Balkans highlighting existing gaps with respect to the EU acquis. The aim is to provide accurate and complete environmental information to monitor the progress in the accession process, as well as to support the implementation of the Green Agenda for the WB with particular reference to depollution and decarbonisation pillars and more general to support environmental management. In this edition, particular emphasis is made on the impacts of climate change on hydrological aspects (rainfall, droughts, surface and groundwater), forest fires and heat waves. This information is also relevant for the EU Green Deal zero pollution ambition, since the depollution in WB economies is expected to reduce the transboundary pollution in neighbouring and in other EU Member States as well. There has been evident progress in the alignment with EU acquis on environment and climate, however, its implementation is still slow and insufficient. Despite the decreasing trends of air pollutant concentrations, air quality remains a significant problem for both the Western Balkans and neighbouring EU countries. From the human health perspective, PM2.5 has the largest impact on premature deaths and morbidity.

Source: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC140061